Weibo Corporation WB, often referred to as China’s Twitter (now rebranded as X) counterpart, reportedly plans to mandate top influencers, those with more than one million followers, to display their real names on the platform, raising concerns about online privacy in the Xi Jinping-led country’s digital landscape.
What Happened: Weibo’s chief executive officer, Wang Gaofei, has initiated this change by making his real name public on his account, though he hasn’t elaborated on his rationale, reported Bloomberg.
“I’m testing out the controversial function myself first,” he wrote on Friday while acknowledging that this could be an unpopular move.
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Wang also mentioned that the real-name display threshold could potentially be lowered to 500,000 followers in the future, though he casually noted that “it’s common sense what I said doesn’t matter.”
The Chinese government has long demanded insight into users’ online activities to combat dissent and illegal activities such as stock market manipulation and fake news. However, it remains uncertain whether Weibo is acting on specific instructions from internet regulators, the report noted.
Some Weibo users have expressed concerns regarding their safety in real life due to the new rules. One user wrote, “I can give up my privacy, but who’s there to protect me? Will verbal abuse, harassment, stalking, defamation, and all the other crimes caused by information leaks be effectively contained?”
Why It’s Important: Weibo’s push for real-name disclosure comes at a time when it faces growing competition from more addictive mobile apps. Moreover, it operates under one of the world’s strictest censorship regimes.
It is worth noting that last year, Weibo and ByteDance-owned short video service Douyin began showing where users are based on their internet addresses. This was made a requirement, saying it’s meant to prevent the spread of false information, the report stated.
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